What should’ve been an obvious propaganda campaign/slogan to most, didn’t even turn into the conversation libertarians would’ve wanted to have: if you’re going to defund the police, or even replace them, what are you replacing them with? The overwhelming majority of people, even libertarians and anarchists, understand that a security force is essential for preserving the safety of one’s body and property. The question that should’ve been asked when the “Defund the Police” slogan was being chanted is, what is the minimum level of authority that should be afforded a security force while it is still being controlled by the State?
It is understood that many reading this are libertarians and anarchists, but that type of society and culture is far off in the future. We must deal with the here and now. I understand it is anathema to discuss solutions within the system to many, including this author’s former self, but we live in a certain reality as much as that pains some to hear. One doesn’t stop doing everything they can to scale back the War on Terror because it won’t end it. Seeing the war on the Yemenis ended doesn’t cease the atrocities being committed by the US government in multiple other countries, but it does end the suffering for one of the poorest nations on the planet. Any logical being would consider that a victory.
The Right
When it comes to law enforcement, the Right for the most part, still doesn’t get that when they champion the police enforcing every single law on the books (except the ones that affect them, the ones they deem stupid like having to get a permit to build on your own property) that they are championing policies historically written by the Left. When one points that out to someone on the Right (or even directly to the Right-wing law enforcement officer), cognitive dissonance kicks in and either the excuses, or the insults begin to fly.
As history progresses in cycles, there is a ray of hope on the historic Right that their eyes are being opened to the fact that the Constitutional freedoms they hold so dear may not be the priority of their local “Officer Friendly”. Through the draconian measures implemented by states and municipalities last year, numerous Right-Wing pundits repeatedly turned on local, county and state law enforcement as they realized that the COVID-tyranny could not be enforced without their direct action. Many were seen Tweeting that they could never look at police the same way again. And at least one major figure who is placed on the Right (although they may deny it) confided to this author in private that they have adopted an “abolish the police” stance.
Is the Right perfect on law enforcement? No, they’re still awful. But cracks are beginning to appear and that is something that most couldn’t have predicted in 2019.
The Left
To make the statement that most of the Left in the USA has bought into the “Cult of COVID” would be disingenuous. What can be asserted is that when you come across a COVID-cultist they are almost always on the Left (including most of the federal and state governments). Why this phenomenon on the Left exists is something that should be written about (Ted Kaczynski lays out a perfect framework in his manifesto) but addressing that here would be off topic. What can be stated without a doubt is that by advocating for State-enforced lockdowns, social distancing, vaccine passports, AND mask and vaccine mandates, the Left have become the biggest supporters of law enforcement in the country outside of police unions themselves.
As was pointed out when dealing with the Right, none of this COVID insanity could’ve been perpetrated without the cooperation of law enforcement. This is the same law enforcement that many of these same people were calling for the defunding of just a few months earlier. To point out hypocrisy in politics is tedious at this point in history, and honestly only serves to fortify their opposition, but if it breaks the cognitive dissonance of even one person holding these contradictory positions it should be done.
The Left have historically been the group to “question authority,” or at least to pay lip-service to the idea. Now they have taken the full length of the boot down their collective throats in the name of safety. And the few people on the Left (Greenwald, Johnstone, etc) who call out their hypocrisy are met with accusations of being simps for the Right. Sanity left us long ago
And Still, No Solutions
There remains a policing problem in the United States of America. Law enforcement is still out of control. Police officers still have qualified immunity and protections under Graham vs. Conner, and their legal purview over the lives of Americans can only increase unless the COVID-regime is ended. The very simple idea that law enforcement should have no authority greater than the citizen, that of being able to only do harm to another if they are a threat to themselves, or someone else, seems quaint at this point. Almost as if it’s to be dismissed with a belittling chuckle. Yet, the numbers of those who continue to be victimized by people who have chosen to enforce illegitimate laws grows. Even if one only wanted to include COVID-tyranny, it should be evident to even the most hardcore supporters of the police, that law enforcement’s assistance in closing down businesses who chose to defy mandates puts them in the class of the oppressors.
One thing that should be clear to everyone who has watched law enforcement carry out these tyrannical proclamations in regard to COVID-19 is that they’ve crossed a line they never have before. How far that line has been actually moved we will unfortunately see in the future.
